Boom Crane – Reviews

Boom Crane – review by Massimo Ricci“After nearly a year from the release of Boom Crane, and having this commentator granted a sizeable amount of analysis to its content over the last days, what the mind sees is a contradiction of sorts between the album’s title – implying a devastating power, on paper – and the disciplined lucidity that permeates the trio’s interplay, aligning the music to areas not exactly neighboring with blaring fury and crumbling walls.

This CD is, by all means, an illustration of how jazz can evolve bit by bit through the addition of compositional factors unheralded in such a context (say, a fast alteration of both tempo and velocity inside an apparently natural swinging constitution, as occurring in “Automatic Vaudeville”). It is also a way to inspire the listener to abandon – at least for an hour or so – the classic “glass-in-the-hand, head-oscillating-to-the-pulse” attitude concomitant to analogous environments.”

Boom Crane – review by Ken Waxman“Providing an unassailable musical instance of Equilibrium, “a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced” – also the title of one composition on this incisive CD – is the intuitive skill of two expatriate Canadians and one American. In fact, such is the dexterity ofthe trio in negotiating moods and tempos on Boom Crane’s 11 selections that Boom Crane (the band) sounds like a full-time working group. In truth the three convene infrequently, since Kingston, Ontario-born alto saxophonist/clarinetist Peter Van Huffel is in Berlin; while B.C. native, bassist Michael Bates lives in Brooklyn as does Yank drummer Jeff Davis. Actually titled On Equilibrium, the track perfectly syncs vibrating reed slurs, beefy string pumps and drum pops, but that’s only one of the trio’s attributes. Besides Van Huffel’s warm clarinet tone used on a couple of occasions to wiggle out unmatched balladic interpretations, his biting alto lines equally illuminate bop, blues and experimental forays. Sharp and tense, the title tun is a stop-time blues which distends without ever splintering and features Blake’s comfortable but commanding strumming. Dissonant Slipper Hero showcases hollow breaths forced through the saxophone alongside double-stopping arco string buzzes until Davis’ amiable swing beat helps guide the others towards an electrifying communicative finale.

On Automatic Vaudeville apparently The Jazz Messenger must operate in that venerable tradition, since Bates’ walking bass and Van Huffel’s buoyant note jumps reference hard bop. Later reed squeaks and string pops confirm the tune’s modernity, plus the time is slyly doubled until variations lead back to the initial theme. But perhaps the most characteristic track is Not A Living Soul. Another exercise in shifting tempos, its centrepiece is Bates’ dark, extended bass solo. It separates with skill the herky-jerky, flutter-tongued sax-led beginning and the blended conclusion of graceful cymbal vibrations, supple reed trills and bass string resonations.

A notable debut disc that calls for celebration not boom lowering on the trio, the CD’s tunes and the band can be experienced in Toronto this month.”

Fave Music January to July 2014. Top 35 Albums: by Chris Monsen“A late discovery in the S/B/D trio format is Berlin based Canadian Peter Van Huffel’s Boom Crane (Fresh Sound New Talent), who together with bassist Michael Bates and drummer Jeff Davies whips up some very exctiting freewheeling and booming yet catchy and at times even funky postbop that has hardly left my stereo in week.”

Review by Antonio Poscic“Every once in a while I’ll start asking myself about what I expect from new music. Should each record try to break new grounds, establish various paradigm shifts, or is it enough to want more of the same, more of the music that I’m comfortable listening to? The great thing about albums such as Peter Van Huffel’s Boom Crane is that it brings a bit of both of those things to the table and makes me forget the question I was pondering over in the first place. It makes me just enjoy the great tunes.

Boom Crane is a frolic record and a debut album that any band could wish for. The trio of Peter Van Huffel on alto saxophone and clarinet, Michael Bates on bass, and Jeff Davis on drums indulge in an incredibly joyful, powerful display of a multitude of styles within jazz whilst also adding touches of their own in the mix. Something old, something new, something unexpected, “Boom Crane” is, at its best, an incredible explosion of sound and expression sprinkled with many twists and surprises. The musicians build and drive their music with sudden tempo changes and weird time signatures, while also playing with the most diverse jazz idioms which, in turn, results in a fusion of epochs and forms, from post-bop to swing. This is not free jazz in the strictest sense, but it surely does feel liberated…”

Review by Richard B. Kamins“Boom Crane” is the name for the trio that includes Peter Van Huffel (alto saxophone), Michael Bates (bass) and Jeff Davis (drums) – it is also the name of the trio’s debut CD on the Fresh Sound/New Talent label. As someone brought up on great trio recordings such as “The Freedom Suite” by Sonny Rollins (with Max Roach and Oscar Pettiford) and “Air Time” (the cooperative trio of Henry Threadgill, Steve McCall and Fred Hopkins), I must admit to measuring every sax trio I have heard since then on those albums.

To my ears, Boom Crane rates high because their approach fuses the 2 styles heard on the albums and makes it sound new and quite. The rhythms section plays with great verve throughout, offering the saxophonist not only a solid foundation but excellent sparring partners…

June 3rd, 2014 – Something Else Reviews, USA – by S. Victor Aaronsomethingelsereviews.com“There are a lot of expectations that come from a trio where each player has already established himself as a leader and composer, and so the Boom Crane band — Peter Van Huffel, Michael Bates and Jeff Davis — has a lot to live up to. Upon first hearing the muscular bass of Bates, Davis flogging a persistent swing beat into submission and Van Huffel topping it all off with a layer of cool refreshing alto sax, I quickly got the feeling that this band was gonna be as good as their individual names advertised.

Berlin-based saxophonist, composer Peter Van Huffel is the lead voice on Boom Crane’s debut outing, featuring the dynamo rhythm section of New York residents, bassist Michael Bates and drummer Jeff Davis. As one would anticipate, the saxophonist imparts his creatively focused, restless nature into the grand schema. He’s a mover and shaker via his unwieldy theme- construction exercises, spiked with off-center time signatures and animated voicings, often flanked with iron-fisted chutzpah and exceptional fluency. Hence, the musicians go full steam ahead by integrating a free-form hue into these byzantine and rather unconventional jaunts.

The element of surprise underscores the album. On “Automatic Vaudeville,” Bates launches a sturdy walking bass line, summoning a mid-tempo swing vamp, and followed by Van Huffel’s sanguine phrasings amid an easy-going gait. He establishes a sinuous melody and takes his time, but as history would dictate, he re-energizes the primary motif; raises the pitch, and takes matters to the next level. The trio shifts into double-time and cycles through fiery pulses, resulting in yet another source of interest. Here and throughout the program, the musicians tender the antithesis to common jazz fare along with their superb musicianship, wily digressions and striking interactions.

Pity the neighbors of the jazz trio Boom Crane. It’s not that their garage band approach to music making is off-putting or offensive, it’s that the ferocity of their approach is just so demanding. Saxophonist Peter Van Huffel’s New York trio of Michael Bates (bass) and Jeff Davis (drums) release this, their inaugural recording, as a purely leaderless effort. Each player contributes music here, and thankfully the engineer has mixed the sound to feature this egalitarian trio.

The disc opens with “More Room,” the only wholly free jazz piece on the recording. That’s significant because the remainder of the music is rigorously form-fitted compositions that threaten to implode, or maybe explode?